Turkey Chop Gourmet Grill, 3506 W. Chicago Ave. Google
Holiday tradition and mission to heal communities through food continues at Turkey Chop Gourmet Grill
For five years in a row, Chef Quentin Love’s Turkey Chop Gourmet Grill was the scene of his annual turkey giveaway, which topped 3,000 free birds in 2019. On Wednesday, the turkey giveaway returns after taking a pause during COVID-19. This year, Love is aiming to give away at least 1,000 turkeys and is raising money through a GoFundMe campaign at https://gofund.me/3a8ece29.
Turkey Giveaway starting at noon on Wednesday, November 22
Turkey Chop Gourmet Grill, 3506 W. Chicago Ave.
As a restaurateur, Love has lived up to his motto “Healing communities through food.” For several years, he turned Turkey Chop at 3506 W. Chicago Ave., into a community soup kitchen on Mondays from 1 to 3 p.m. to offer free meals to anyone who stopped by. He served free Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners to the needy, and gave away warm coats, socks and gloves.
Turkey Chop’s turkey giveaways have become legendary in Chicago. So, expect to see Humboldt Park residents return in droves on Wednesday to pick up their turkeys and fellowship with members of the community.
Love recently opened a second location of his new restaurant concept called the Soul Food Lounge in Beverly at 10701 S. Hale Ave., in the South Side community of Beverly. It comes almost a year to the day after he opened the first Soul Food Lounge in North Lawndale in the Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Apartments at 3804 W. 16th Street.
Love has used the GoFund Me platform in the past to raise money to power his soup kitchen and bestow grants of $1,000 a piece to help members of the community. For instance, a mother trying to finish nursing school and a young man who started a program for the homeless. The former Marine (Desert Storm) bounced back from financial hardship, himself, after his Quench chain of restaurants failed following the recession of 2008. He said it taught him a valuable lesson that giving was the only way to truly succeed.
“Everybody who stands in that line is a representation of me. So, it’s important that we share love with the random stranger and do what we can to balance the scales,” Love said.
